Three 'G's

Laurie Pierce asked:

>>Thomas Turba is correct - I'm fairly new here and I've put off asking -
what are the 3 G's?<<

Someone on compuserve recently asked me about these issues. Here's my attempt
at an even-handed summary:

The three 'Gs' usually refer to Girls, Gays, and Godless. BSA's position on
each of these issues is to essentially say that we are a private organization
and as such can do whatever we want. Discrimination rules don't apply to us.
Here's a summary of the three issues:

Issue 1: BSA will not allow girls to join cub scout or boy scout units.
Arguments for BSA's position:
a. It's always been this way.
b. It's the *boy* scouts, dummy! If you don't like it, go join
something else.
c. The girl scouts discriminate too.
d. Our leader's couldn't handle girls in the units.
e. The boys would "act funny" on outings if girls are around.
Arguments against BSA's position:
a. We already allow girls into the exploring program - Scouting
hasn't collapsed.
b. We are in a minority in the world brotherhood of scouting
- in most countries, scouting is already co-ed.
c. There are no other organizations that can match scouting
Issue 2: Homosexuals cannot be involved in the program in any capacity.
Arguments for the BSA's position:
a. We are protecting our youth.
b. It's unnatural.
Arguments against the BSA's position:
a. Studies have shown that molesters are not necessarily homosexual
- most are heterosexual.
b. We allow female leaders. Why aren't we concerned about them
having a heterosexual
Relationship with our scouts?
c. It is sexual activity/promotion that goes against the values of
scouting - not sexual orientation.
Issue 3: A person cannot be "the best kind of citizen" and an atheist at the
same time.
Arguments for the BSA's position:
a. A scout is reverent.
b. Without a religious basis, there is no foundation for morality.
Arguments against the BSA's position:
a. A person can be of good moral character without following a
particular religious doctrine.
b. BSA seems to only recognize "mainstream" religions.
c. BSA accepts Buddhism as an acceptable religion, even though many
Buddhists sects do not have a
belief in a "god" of any type.

As usual, people hold strong opinions on both sides of these issues, and there
are many individuals at each "extreme" on each issue. There are also many cases
"in the middle" of the two camps, where the BSA seems to have acted in an
arbitrary manner.

As someone else mentioned, these posts tend to take up a lot of bandwidth,
without anyone changing their minds or coming to consensus. Therefore, on this
list we try to focus on those issues that are of direct help to the list
members.

Yours in Scouting,

Joseph A. Alessi in Ozwin 2.11
At 11:25 EST on 13-Nov-96
ASM Troop 313
District Advancement Chair
Jambo 97 Scoutmaster
I used to be an Owl

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